How to play happy families on the slopes

Family planning ... taking children on a skiing holiday requires some forward thinking. Photo: Corbis

The number of families taking a skiing holiday has increased in recent years to the point where demand is outstripping supply. The crucial factor for many is no longer where but when to take school-age children to the snow. Indeed, if you were hoping to go to the Alps over the new year or at the February half term, a call to any of the 20 or so tour operators specialising in family skiing will leave you wondering whether you are going to be able to take them at all.

Christmas falls on a Saturday this year, which means some operators are offering 10-day or weekday departure holidays to prevent people having to travel on Christmas Day.

Nigel Purkhardt, owner of Ski Peak of Grayshott in Surrey, says: 'Half term and new year are selling very well indeed but there is still quite a bit of accommodation left for Christmas. We're offering Tuesday to Tuesday holidays, which seem to be popular.'

If you're not quite sure when the February half term falls in most places, just glance at any of the 150 ski tour operators' brochures and pick the costliest weeks.

A chalet chosen at random in Courchevel 1850 costs £736 for the week beginning 5 February and shoots up to £1,013 on 12 February (half-term week) and at new year.

The inflated cost of European ski holidays at half term and the new year is due to the increasing polarisation of the dates termed as high and low season. For UK chalet operators, school holiday periods are easy to sell. Term-time weeks in January and March are harder to shift.

The tour operators' argument is that for weeks where demand outstrips supply, they are entitled to make as much money as possible to make up for a shortfall on low-season dates.

Going it alone

One way to get around this is by organising your own holiday and cutting out the tour operator altogether. The peak season premiums charged by tour operators are not always reflected in the price of accommodation.

For example, the Hotel Belvedere (00 41 27 783 1114, le-belvedere.ch in the small resort of Champex-Lac near Verbier in Switzerland keeps the same prices throughout the season charging SFr 100 ( £45) per person per night half board, regardless of dates. Alternatively, the Hotel Cavallino Bianco (00 39 0471 783 333, cavallino-bianco.com) in Ortisei, in the Italian South Tyrol has exceptional child facilities but no UK tour operator goes there. On 12 February the price for one week's full board staying in a family room is €163 (about £111) per adult and €40-€80 per child. On low-season 8 January the prices are €132 per adult and €25-€65 for a child.

Booking low-cost flights, car hire or transfers online and organising childcare through the local tourist board may result in a considerable saving, but your investment will not necessarily be secure in the event of an unforeseen problem such as overbooking, nor will you have the services of a tour operator's staff in the resort.

Whoever you decide to travel with, taking small children on a skiing holiday requires detailed planning and considerable luck. But the overall success is almost entirely dependent on choosing the right place to stay. France is the most popular country for British families. It has some of the best equipped crèches in Europe, but staff surliness and the 'you are here to learn' attitude of some ski schools leaves a lot to be desired.

Switzerland can be more expensive but it offers efficiency and traditional villages full of atmosphere.

Avoid Italy if you're taking small children, as many resorts (Ortisei is an exception) do not offer childcare due to the Italian penchant for having nanny - or granny - in tow on the family holiday.

Austria is pretty and jolly, but the nursery slopes are often too low to be reliable for snow.

Dodging the crowds

There are several ways to minimise the inconvenience of the half term and new year crowds. The first is to choose a resort with a really modern lift system (Les Trois Vallées) that can cope with large numbers swiftly and efficiently. The second is to opt for a lesser-known resort (Vaujany or La Tania), which is part of a bigger ski area. The third is to go for a resort off the beaten track (Neustift).

North America provides a less frenetic alternative at any time of the year and is number one when it comes to childcare.

Nothing can beat the enthusiastic welcome your child will receive and the advantage of tuition in your native language outweighs almost everything else.

Six great family resorts

Neustift, Austria

Attractive Neustift is Europe's first Disney-franchised ski resort. Mickey Mouse and other life-sized cartoon characters stroll around the village and slopes, kids' bedding is themed, and children receive Disney gifts. The nursery slopes are in the village centre, while parents have excellent and varied skiing on the Stubai Glacier.

The cost: half term £899 in Chalet Hofer which contains 10 family suites, each sleeping between four and six people. It has a nursery staffed by British nannies for children aged from four months to three years, costing £170 for six days. Five mornings at ski school for kids aged from three to 12 costs £125. Five sessions at an afternoon activity club are £140. Esprit 01252 618300; esprit-holidays.co.uk

Méribel, France

Méribel, 'the heart of the Trois Vallées', is the most convenient base from which to explore the 189 lifts and 600km of piste that make the largest linked ski area in the world. After a few days on the nursery slope, improving skiers can cover immense distances on green and blue runs. As well as the Ecole du Ski Français and Magic in Motion, the resort has a handful of British-run ski schools including New Generation, Ski Principles, and Parallel Lines.

The cost: new year (from 26 December) £1,009pp at Chalet Jacques (sleeps 8/9), 50m from the chairlift in Méribel Village. Snowline's shuttle service takes children to and from ski school. Private nanny £475 for up to two children for five-and-a-half days. The nanny brings toys and games to the chalet, arranges outdoor activities and provides lunch. Snowline 08701 123118; snowline.co.uk

La Tania, France

La Tania is a no-frills, purpose-built resort that provides a cheaper alternative to neighbouring Courchevel 1850. Above the resort is Le Forêt, a collection of Scandinavian-style chalets set in the woods between two pistes. La Tania has its own learning area, a branch of the ESF, and three independent schools, Arthur MacLean, Magic in Motion and Snow Ball. Chalet Titania is in Le Forêt and has a crèche. Ski school can be reached on skis or with a five-minute walk.

Vaujany is a sleepy farming hamlet with a state-of-the-art cable-car which links it directly to the 85-lift ski circuit of Alpe d'Huez. Although you will see chickens and goats wandering around the village, the resort also boasts an ice-skating rink and an impressive indoor swimming pool complex with slides and flumes. Vaujany also has one of the best-equipped crèches in the French Alps.

Cream of the crop is Zermatt, one of the world's most beautiful ski villages. Until recently, the resort's antiquated Swiss Ski School and ancient lift system meant it wasn't the obvious family choice. But that has changed since the resort upgraded its lift system, and improvements continue. The relative newcomer (this is the fifth season) is Stoked the Ski School, which has a children's ski school and Snowflakes Kids Club at the top of the Matterhorn Express at Schwarzsee. It accepts children aged three to eight years on a flexible basis.

As luxurious as the resort itself is tour operator Scott Dunn, whose nannies come to your chalet or hotel bringing toys, books and crafts materials. They take your child out for walks and hot chocolate, cook a wholesome lunch, bring little ones up the mountain to meet you and take older children to and from ski school.

The cost: half term (13 February) £1,545 in Chalet Aroleid (sleeps 6). Nanny £325 per week for the first child and £125 for the second. Scott Dunn Ski 020 8682 5050; scottdunn.com

Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

The serene Lake Louise is the quieter alternative to lively neighbour Banff. It has spectacular views across the frozen lake that is one of the wonders of the Canadian Rockies. The large ski area covers two mountains with an impressive network of trails, including an easy run from the top of every major lift.

The cost: half term £2,350 for a family of four in a family room at Deer Lodge. Meals are not included. Daycare for children aged from birth to four years costs C$36.50 (£16) per day and a range of ski school programmes (5-12yrs) from C$179 for three days, all with lunch included. Ski Safari 01273 223680; skisafari.com

Avoid holiday clashes

Choose your ski-break dates with care this year. An early Easter (Sunday 27 March) makes the 2004-5 season shorter than usual. Regardless of snow conditions, most tour operators start to wind up their programme after this holiday. The majority of UK state schools start their break on Good Friday, and it is worth remembering that the second of the two school-break weeks is by far the most popular for skiing.

February half-term falls early, with most schools in England and Wales opting again for the same week: the one starting Saturday 12 February. For once, the timing does not clash with either the Paris school break (19 Feb-7 Mar) or President's Day Weekend, America's biggest winter bank holiday (19 -21 Feb). This means slopes shouldn't be too crowded in the main resorts of the French Alps and North America.

However, the half-term dates do clash with the spring break for Lyon and Grenoble, which could result in long lift queues in popular resorts in the French Alps. At the same time, in Andorra and the Pyrenees, an influx of families from Toulouse will augment the number of snow-users.

Avid American skiers tend to spend the rest of their President's Day bank holiday week on the slopes, which also has a knock-on effect on Canadian resorts.

To compound the difficulty of organising your ski holiday, Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on Saturday, the traditional change-over day, forcing some operators to offer either weekday travel or 10-day breaks over the period.

Extracted from The Good Skiing and Snowboarding Guide 2005

· Felice Hardy is co-author of The Good Skiing & Snowboarding Guide 2005, published by Which? Books at £15.99. To order a copy for £15.19 with free UK p&p call the Observer Book Service on 0870 836 0885, or go to observer.co.uk/bookshop

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About this article

How to play happy families on the slopes

This article appeared on p6 of the Observer Escape section of the Observer
on Saturday 2 October 2004.
It was published on
the Guardian website
at 14.01 EDT on Sunday 3 October 2004.
It was last modified at 14.01 EDT on Monday 2 October 2006.
It was first published at 19.00 EST on Tuesday 21 November 2006.